Christians, Don’t Vote! Part 1: Are We Really Called to Do So?

We Americans are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with our government. According to Pew Research Center, we’re often exhausted and angry when politics is even thought about. We see the American system as corrupt and divisive.[1] Why then do we Christians strive for a Christian nation? Nearly 6 in 10 Christians, whether liberal or conservative, say that we “should be” a Christian nation – whether that means the law is governed by biblical language or generic “Christian values”.[2] (As if the two could be separated). We want an authority and government that fights for us, defends us, and represents us in the world’s political system. It’s a natural desire to want power and influence, especially if only because we want to help make the world a better place. Not for our own protection (though safety is preferred), not so we can force others to bend toward our will (though we do know right), but that God’s will for our lives is made known, realized, and manifested (even if Christ has already inaugurated it). There’s a goodness intended behind this desire and we can’t dismiss it. The impulse to make the world a better place is a good impulse. It’s an impulse the anticipates the fulness of the Kingdom of God, or Heaven. A perfection of the world around us. A world where governments and institutions work for the people, not against them. A place where God dwells among us. A place where there is no distinction between man-made government and God’s Kingdom because they are united. To make the world a better place then becomes the divine calling of Christians. In one theologian’s words, “… the task of emancipation is not God’s responsibility but ours”.[3]

 Everyone Wants to Make America (The World) Great Again

In his book Endangered Gospel, John Nugent describes this view as the human-centered view of a better place. He says, “When people of faith embrace this vision, and put it into action, they advance God’s Kingdom and make this world better. Jesus began making this world a better place. It is the church’s responsibility to finish this job”.[4] He goes on and articulates an even better version of this view where we work with God as opposed to stepping in for God. He calls this one the world-centered view: “Since God is in the business of world betterment, we ought to join him in it…Though we cannot redeem this world, none of our world-redeeming labors will go to waste; they point to, participate in, and will be folded into God’s ultimate redemption.”[5] This is the view that most of us politically-involved Christians profess, especially when it comes to redeeming the American nation. As congressman Greg Steube said of Speaker Mike Johnson, “Mike Johnson is a strong conservative, but above all else, he is a strong Christian. He’s not afraid to look to his faith for guidance. America needs that more than ever in the U.S. House”.[6] Mr. Steube is saying because Mr. Johnson is a Christian, it’s his calling (“look to his faith”) to guide America into a greater nation, because “America needs that more than ever”.

@RepGregStaube: "In January, @RepMikeJohnson joined me on the House floor while we were in a deadlock over who our next Speaker would be."

It's not just the conservatives amongst us that do that. The liberals have their own world-centered ideologies. For instance, the United Church of Christ, the denomination responsible for baptizing me, has an initiative called the “Our Faith Our Vote Campaign”. Even in the title of the initiative, our Faith (our calling) is equated with our vote (our outpouring of our calling). There’s an implicit assumption that we must participate in the worldly system of American politics to live out our faith. To be fair, the UCC does acknowledge it as only an option, not the end-all-be-all of our calling: “It is a way of living out the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.”[7] What is more concerning is that they have an “Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.” whose job is “to identify, analyze and forecast emerging social issues and legislation which call for the attention of the denomination.”[8] How can we, the church, make America a better place? Or, how can we use the American political system to our advantage?

Introducing the Already Better Place: The Kingdom of God

Contra the world-centered and human-centered views of engagement in the world, John Nugent describes the Kingdom-centered view. After describing the biblical narrative of institutional corruption, attempts to make the world a better place and how God does so throughout the biblical story, John states this in the concluding chapter of Endangered Gospel:

Jesus implemented God’s kingdom in a way that no one expected. Rather than replace the corrupt structures of the fallen world order, Jesus began his new order right in the midst of the old one. He gathered his people, awakened them to newness of life, infused them with his Spirit, and sent them on a mission…In Christ, God has accomplished this, but he has chosen to make his appeal through us. We are the only ambassadors God has appointed to represent his eternal kingdom. We carry in our life together the fullness of life that prophets have envisioned, kings have striven to achieve, angels have been longing to observe, and creation groans to experience...I call this a ‘kingdom-centered’ approach because our role centers on embracing, displaying, and proclaiming God’s kingdom…It, too, wants this world to be the best possible place. It cares deeply about the deterioration of creation and the suffering of countless people. It remains ‘Kingdom’ centered because it believes that God’s people have been re-created as the firstfruits of the best possible place, which is God’s kingdom. God has appointed us- and no one else- to serve this kingdom. We are frontrunners of world history. Why would we be distracted by even the most noble alternative vision. Why shift our focus to making a fading world order as good as it can be before it bottoms out?[9]

We are already beholders of the better place. There is not a need to institute one amongst us, as Christ has done that in the church! We can and must strive to be examples, “ambassadors”, of the Kingdom by loving our neighbors. In fact, Nugent includes an appendix titled “Answers to Practical Questions”.[10] But, I’m going to save that for part 3 of this series. What needs to be remembered is that we aren’t called to make the world a better place, rather to be so. To be the society that we hope for. As Anthony L. Moss says it in his book On the Precipice, “Focus on being the church, devoting resources to aiding the distressed and not waging foolish culture wars, knowing that the ‘principalities and powers’ are only playing both sides (Eph 6:12).”[11] It’s not our duty to make the world a better place because God has already done that in his church. The church, as Christ’s Body, is the exemplar of this Kingdom. With Christ, we are to submit our wills to the Father and serve others. With Christ, we are to find ourselves turning the other cheek, bearing dignity for those who don’t have any. With Christ, we are to go the extra mile helping the fool recognize his folly. With Christ, we are to live this Kingdom in parallel (dare I say, opposition) to the nations who claim to have sole say over our lives. It’s as if adding “In God we trust” was a positive affirmation of all that America does. Because the American government trusts God, the president takes official oaths on the bible, and opens each congressional session with prayer, then we must be a Christian nation – a nation that therefore participates in the Kingdom of God. A God-ordained extension of his Kingdom. An institutional arm of God. In other words, America is the Kingdom of God made known in this part of the world.

In part 2 of this series, I’ll go on to make a biblical case that even if God may use political authorities (I’d rather say, social order) to achieve his will, it doesn’t mean that they are sanctimonious. As if God uses the consequences of evil to mean that evil is approved and made holy. No, God allows governments (unnecessary for social order), corporations, and violent movements to exist, as he allowed Israel to have a king like the nations. Even if it meant that His people “have rejected me [God] from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). So, let us American Christians not become American Christians, but remember that Christ is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the sole authority we should look to – an authority who doesn't dominate, control, or tax, but serves, disseminates, and gives.

 

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[1]  “Americans’ Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics”, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/americans-dismal-views-of-the-nations-politics/

[2] “45% of Americans Say U.S. Should Be a ‘Christian Nation’”, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/10/27/45-of-americans-say-u-s-should-be-a-christian-nation/

[3] David W. Congdon, ed., “Introduction,” essay, in Varieties of Christian Universalism: Exploring Four Views (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023), XXVIII. This quote is from David W Congdon’s introduction of his own take on Christian Universalism described as “Existential Universalism”. Universalism is already on the edges of Christian orthodoxy, and I believe existential universalism is on the margins of Christian Universalism making it a very contentious view to hold.   

[4] John C. Nugent, Endangered Gospel: How Fixing the World is Killing the Church (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2016), 10. It Should be noted that John was a highly influential professor of mine.

[5] Endangered Gospel, 12, 13.

[6] https://twitter.com/RepGregSteube/status/1717199225719570442. Emphasis mine.

[7] https://www.ucc.org/our-faith-our-vote/

[8] https://www.ucc.org/office-of-public-policy-and-advocacy-in-washington-d-c/

[9] Endangered Gospel, 193-194.

[10] Endangered Gospel, 203-220.

[11] Anthony L. Moss, On the Precipice: Radicalized Faith in an Age of Collapse (public domain), 235.